TEEN SPIRIT: The Stories Behind Every Nirvana Song

by Chuck Crisafulli

Teen The Story Behind Every Nirvana Song tells the story behind every track on the band's albums. Why did Cobain feel moved to write 'Polly'? What is Teen Spirit? Who is Floyd the Barber? The book follows Nirvana from its earliest beginnings to rock superstardom, pinpointing the genesis of each of the band's original songs, and exploring the sources from which they choose the cover songs that punctuated their records.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference, Biography

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 1996

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep insight into the making, the meaning and the behind the scenes ideas of Nirvana's songs.

This book provides exactly the contents an avid Nirvana fan would want to dive deep in.

[Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom gave me this book as a gift

[Damon Lively · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read. Not a ton of information – although some parts are revealing. It is more an illustrated history – which I was not certain until I ordered the book. You really need to be a fan of Nirvana or versed in the history (most importantly the music itself) to get any appreciation from the book. There were things about songs that I never did know – which was fun to read and understand. There were other areas where it really just glossed over particulars and didn’t give much detail (or have any purpose). I also felt some parts could have been elaborated on more at times. They could have added more on the recording aspects of the albums and grown the depth of the book – when you consider Nevermind at certainly there are some juicy tidbits with In Utero. But – the tip of the story was vetted and then you were on to the next thing. It almost felt like a book that was based on a great idea (if you know Nirvana – there is certainly enough to ask “what did he mean” or a thirst towards how a particular song developed) – but it could be there just isn’t enough “good” information to support a detailed analysis. You feel that in the book when it is maybe 3 sentences blurbs for certain song titles and you can read the book in a short period of time. I believe the idea was good – the project just may have fallen short.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great introduction to the band if you hadn't read anything else about Nirvana. In fact, you'd find yourself in a kind of nirvana as you read all the secret back story behind the songs. On the other hand, if you've read anything else about Nirvana, you quickly recognize how everything written about the band prior to this book's appearance has all been repurposed and cleverly repackaged to create these song biographies. Cobain loved "taking the piss" on journalists and lot of the "backstory" here comes from his interviews in which he notoriously made up stories about the origin of songs. Throw in a lot of amateur psychoanalysis of the lyrics to decipher meaning and that provides more backstory. But leaving that all aside, just imagine if this were all spot on analysis? Suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours. Listen to the songs while you read the book and yes you can experience nirvana on multiple levels.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cassidy sent me this book when he was done with it. He really likes Nirvana. I like them too, but not as much as he does.

This book was interesting, but I wish the lyrics to every song that the reader gets the story behind were included here. That's right, we get the story of each song, but not the lyrics to each song. In fact, we don't get the lyrics to any songs. What's up with that? You'd think a book about Nirvana's songs would include the song lyrics, but no.

Oh well.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer is another one of these Rolling Stone apprentice guys, so you have to put up with that for the duration. And the blurbs about the songs don't really seem to say all that much, or to add too greatly to one's understanding.

[Erick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite interesting, Kurt had no idea Teen Spirit was a girl's deodorant.

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

better than the other one I read

[Joshua Nomen-Mutatio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, I was obsessed from about age 12-13. I remember learning about Williams S. Burroughs and the book Perfume through this book.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must read for Nirvana fans. Sometimes enlightening and at other times, tedious.

[Lisa Mcbroom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nirvana set the music industry on fire when their albums debuted in the late 1990's. This tome explains the reasoning behind the songs that were written.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book to read if you are interested in knowing all about Nirvana's songs.